Once Upon a Time
by Summer Potter
Summary: Harry tells his daughter a bedtime story of fairy tale romance, a bit of angst and above all, love on their anniversary. What a better story to tell on such a happy day of memory than his and Ginny's?


Once Upon a Time 

A/N- I love these fluffy/romantic one-shots, can you tell? What is this, my fourth one-shot? Anyhoo, this is post-HBP with a spoiler or two and post-war. Harry/Ginny on their anniversary!

R/R and enjoy!

"Mummy, Alexander pinched me!" Mekenna wailed, running into the sitting room and throwing herself onto the sofa beside Ginny.

Alexander walked into the room, trying to hide his smile as he innocently looked from his mother to his face. "Well, Mekenna ripped a page of my Quidditch book!"

Ginny glanced at her husband. "You were saying about the peace and quiet?" Harry shrugged with a grin.

"Alexander, you shouldn't pinch your sister." Ginny lectured. "And Mekenna, don't wreck your brother's books."

"I didn't _wreck _it." Mekenna retorted huffily, folding her arms. "I just accidentally ripped it a little bit!"

Harry checked his watch and stood up. "Okay, Mekenna, bed time, angel!"

Mekenna groaned. "But Daddy, how come I have to go to bed but Alexander doesn't?"

"Because you're only five and he's eight. You need more sleep because you're little."

Mekenna puffed herself up and stood on her tiptoes. "One day I will be bigger than Alexander and then _he _will have to go to bed before me!" She announced to the room at large.

Harry chuckled and scooped her up. "Come on, you little imp!"

"I am not an imp!" Mekenna argued with a small smile. "I am a fairy princess! Imps are bad."

"No, they just like to cause trouble." Harry replied.

He took her up to her bedroom and set her down in the doorway. Mekenna raced inside her bedroom and threw herself onto her pink bedspread. In fact, the whole room was pink except for the door and the white trim on the windows. The closest was painted two different shades of pink and the pillows had pink flowers on them.

Harry walked over to her dresser and pulled open the top drawer to retrieve a nightgown for the little girl. He pulled out a blue one with white frills on the sleeve and closed the drawer. He turned back to Mekenna, who was now sitting up and untying the ribbons from her long dark brown hair.

Mekenna looked remarkably like Ginny, except for the green eyes that she had inherited from Ginny and the hair colour. She had freckles splashed across her heart-shaped face and was small and petite.

"Daddy, will you tell me a story?" Mekenna asked, once she had pulled on her nightgown and Harry had tossed her day clothes in the hamper.

"What story do you want to hear?" He asked, sitting down on her bed and tucking her under her covers.

She thought for a moment then beamed. "The one about you and mummy!"

Harry grinned and laughed as he tickled her stomach. "You like that one, do you?"

"It's my favorite!" Mekenna replied sweetly.

"Okay." Harry began, brushing her hair from her face. "Once upon a time…"

Once upon a time… 

There was a girl named Ginny and a boy named Harry and they first met at Ginny's house because Harry had become best friends with Ginny's older brother, Ron. Ron, Harry and some of Ron's older brother were sitting at the table eating their breakfasts when Ginny came downstairs in her nightgown. She spotted Harry, screamed and ran back upstairs.

No one knew then that one day, Harry and Ginny would love each other and get married, except Ginny, of course. Ginny had always had a big crush on Harry and whenever she saw him, did silly things like putting her elbow in the butter or knocking something over.

And then, they went to school in September and unfortunately, somewhere inside the school, a terrible thing was happening. A memory of a young Lord Voldemort was writing to Ginny in his old magic diary and she was writing back, telling him all her secrets and letting him know all of her greatest weaknesses. The memory of Lord Voldemort did a terrible thing by capturing Ginny and bringing her into a place called the Chamber of Secrets and Harry went to save her.

Of course, something as difficult as saving someone had to be made harder. Lord Voldemort was a parselmouth and he could talk to snakes. He had a huge, monstrous snake called a basilisk that he used to attack students and he sent it after Harry. The giant snake couldn't stop Harry and he managed to destroy it and save Ginny.

Ginny seemed to be the only one to realize that she and Harry were meant to be together. Nothing happened for a few years and all Ginny could do was hope. Finally, after five years of waiting, something happened. Harry started fancying Ginny, even though she was dating one of his friends, Dean Thomas.

The match of the Quidditch Cup arrived and though Harry had missed the game, it didn't matter. He arrived in the common room and saw Ginny running towards him. Without really thinking about what he was doing, because in his heart, he knew it was right, he kissed her in front of everybody.

For the next couple weeks, Harry and Ginny were a happy couple, spending as much time as possible together. Harry had never been happier with anyone in his life because Ginny seemed to bring out the best in everything, including him.

However, it seemed that all good things must come to an end. The Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, died and that left Harry, who was destined to defeat Voldemort in the end, with an important choice. Should he go after Voldemort or wait until school was over?

He made his decision to go after Voldemort right after he went to Ginny's brother, Bill's wedding to a French woman named Fleur Delacour. This decision to leave and hunt Voldemort left Harry with a terrible task- break up with Ginny. Voldemort would without-a-doubt, use Ginny as a torture object for Harry and he simply could not have her get hurt.

This breakup caused a lot of pain for both Harry and Ginny, especially during the long two years of war. Finally, Harry defeated Voldemort and after spending a few months in the hospital, returned to the Burrow. Ginny was ecstatic to see Harry again, but wasn't sure if he still cared about her.

After days of waiting for a sign that they both wanted to be with each other, Harry worked up the courage to kiss her. Suddenly, that kiss made everything right. Harry began to take her out on dates and spending every free moment he had with her and with his friends, Ron and Hermione.

Soon, both Harry and Ginny fell in love with each other and everything seemed to be perfect. That was, until Ginny was kidnapped during a trip to the bakery, by a man named Draco Malfoy. He took her to his secret hideout, where he was hiding from the aurors. Draco had a crush on Ginny, but Ginny hated Draco, but Draco didn't seem to care.

He tried to kiss Ginny and to make her look at him the way she did at Harry. Draco wanted Ginny to love him the way Ginny loved Harry, but it just wouldn't happen, no matter what potion Draco used or what spell he used on her. Ginny would forever love Harry.

Draco punished Ginny by hurting her and putting evil spells on her to try and control her, but she managed to throw them all off. Draco even tried to kill Ginny one night, but it was at that time that Harry found Ginny and Draco. Being an auror, he had brought a small army with him and had Draco arrested. He had saved Ginny for the second time in her life!

Once Ginny was better, Harry wanted to promise that he'd never let anyone hurt her like Draco had again. He wanted to be the one to protect her and stand by her side for the rest of her life. So one evening, Harry crept into Ginny's house while she was out with some of her friends and put red roses all over her house. He then made a trail of flower pedals to the apartment balcony and set candles both outside on the balcony and inside the apartment.

When Ginny arrived home that night, she got a shock to find her entire apartment covered in roses and candles. She followed the trail of rose pedals and found Harry waiting for Ginny out on the balcony. She opened the balcony door and he smiled at her.

Harry told her how much he loved her and how much she meant to him. Harry said that he couldn't imagine being with anyone else or spending his life anywhere else but with her. He then said that if the world were ending at any minute and the ground was about to split open to swallow him up whole, he wouldn't move until he asked her to marry him.

Ginny burst into tears and threw herself into his arms, crying out 'yes.' All over the wizarding world papers, titles read 'POTTER'S WEDDING BELLS.' The wedding was held in a large cathedral, decorated with all sorts of flowers, silk streamers and ribbons. Over two-hundred and eighty people were invited to the Potter-Weasley wedding and hundreds more were waiting with anticipation for the papers to come out the next day. Reporters and photographers were sitting at the back of the room and waiting anxiously outside the church, cameras, quills and notepads at the ready.

After the wedding and the reception, Harry took Ginny on their honeymoon to the Caribbean. They stayed at a muggle hotel, spending most days on the beach, but enjoyed tours of the island, romantic dinners and even a few shows of muggle fireworks.

It had been a long journey to arrive at such a wonderful time in both their lives, but it was well-worth it. Harry had finally got the family that he had always wanted and Ginny had gotten her fairy-tale ending that she had dreamed about as a little girl.

And even with two children who rip pages from books and pinch each other, they are _still _living happily ever after.

The end.

_The end. _

Mekenna yawned sleepily. "I love you Daddy."

Harry bent down and kissed her cheek affectionately. "I love you too, Mekenna. Goodnight."

"G'night…" Mekenna snuggled into her fluffy pillows and Harry left the room. He had just closed the door, when down the hall, Ginny was poking her head into Alexander's room and wishing him goodnight, before closing his door.

Ginny turned and smiled at her husband. He took her hand in his and led her back downstairs to the sitting room to resume their peaceful evening together. Ginny settled down on the sofa next to Harry and he put his arms around her.

"What was tonight's story?" Ginny asked curiously, staring into the flicking flames of the fireplace.

Harry grinned slightly and kissed her head. "Ours."

Ginny laughed and sat up, her eyes dancing. Her hands slid around his neck and she rested her forehead against his. She kissed him on the lips, letting it linger before pulling back, her forehead still against his.

"Remind me how that goes again?" She whispered.

"You like this story as much as our daughter, I think." Harry chuckled and kissed her again.

"Happy anniversary, Ginny," he murmured.

"Harry, tell the story!" She said, letting him go so she could lay in his arms.

"Oh, very well." He rolled his eyes with a teasing grin. "Only because I love you."

She hit him playfully. "Yes, I love you, too, you prat."

"Shh. I'm telling the story, Ginny!" He scolded, tightening his grip on her. "Once upon a time…"


End file.
